It's a...

Boy!! I know this doesn’t come as a surprise to most of you who are reading. It’s been almost two months since we found out. We went to our doctor’s appointment on Monday, December 22, at 8:00 a.m. We had already been up for quite some time, checking our bags in early at the airport, since our flight left at 10:15! We were cutting it close. Fortunately, the sonographer was right on time and got us in promptly. As he was getting everything ready, he asked if we wanted to know the gender. I immediately said “Yes, but I think it’s a boy!” I’m not exaggerating, the moment he put the wand (I don’t know what the technical word is for it) on my belly, he said “You’re right, it’s a boy!” I was so excited and looked over at Nkere to see the big smile on his face. What he told me later was that he wanted to see the heart beat and make sure everything else looked good before he got too excited. The doctor said everything looked great! We saw his legs kicking and him sucking his thumb! It was the coolest thing ever! Everyone had asked us before what we wanted the baby to be. We both honestly said we don’t care, we just want it to be healthy. I think/know some people think that’s a cop-out answer for some reason. I mean, I know everyone wants a healthy baby; who wouldn’t? And I don’t think it’s bad at all to have a preference of boy or girl! We would have been thrilled with either! But if you know what my job is, and what I do for a living, you would understand why I said that. No one wants their child to be disabled in any way! I decided not to have the amniocentesis test done to check for Downs’ Syndrome. But I was asking my doctor some questions about it, and he came back with a great question. He said “Well, would you do anything different?” Of course I wouldn’t! I felt like there was no reason to get tests run when I’m going to love this baby no matter what.
So, in case you’re wondering, our colors are brown and turquoise!! We can’t wait to meet him!

I'm pregnant!

I know, I know…I have been horrible at writing anything on here for several months! I will really try and do better, because I do want to have my thoughts recorded to look back upon later. September 13th was one of the happiest days of our lives! Nkere and I knew it was either going to be a really great day, or another disappointing day. We had been trying to get pregnant for 9 months, which may not be long to some people, but felt like an eternity to us. It’s such an emotional roller coaster, and I got tired of crying every month and wondering why we couldn’t get pregnant. Nkere and I went to breakfast that morning, and I was supposed to take the pregnancy test when we got home, but I continued to put it off. I waited until about 1:00, Nkere was taking a nap, and I figured I would take it then so I could cry to myself when he was sleeping. I didn’t let myself think in any way that I could be pregnant. Well, it sure didn’t take long for it to come back positive!! I think I about hyperventilated! I was shaking and trying to put batteries in the camera so I could wake Nkere up with the test. He apparently was in a deep sleep, because he didn’t know what I was trying to tell him when I woke him up. I could tell he was really excited, but immediately cautious about the whole thing. He didn’t want us to tell anyone for the first 3 months!! I told him I had to tell our family and close friends, at least! But we agreed to at least wait until my first doctor’s appointment. That agreement was quickly broken in 2 days, when he called practically everyone he knew to tell them the exciting news.  So I was definitely going to tell my family that night. I wanted to be somewhat creative, which isn’t me at all, to tell my parents. My mom has a birthstone baby necklace, with her other 4 grandkids on it, so I decided to get a birthstone baby for May. I wanted to get a boy, but they didn’t have any more, so I just got the girl. I’ve always had a feeling that we would have a boy first, and I was still sure it was a boy.
Anyway, I went to my parent’s house, where my sister and brother-in-law were temporarily staying, and gave my parents the box. I told them it was an early anniversary present, which didn’t make sense at all since I’ve never gotten them one before. When they opened it, mom quickly figured out what I was trying to tell them. Dad kind of looked at me with confusion.  So I said “Dad, I’m pregnant!” After that, Amanda and Paul came in and heard the news. They were all very excited. The funniest part of the night was when we told Gracie Claire that Aunt Gracie was going to have a baby. She first said “Where is it?” I told her that it was in my belly. Then we asked her what she thought I was going to have, and without hesitation, she said “It’s a boy…his name is Percy.” We all laughed, and wondered where she came up with Percy! She has remembered that name and still calls the baby Percy.
Another exciting thing was getting to tell my closest friends as well. I remember Hope coming up to me at church on Saturday night (before we were telling people) and asking what the test results were. I totally had to lie to her, especially since other people were standing around. It was funny because she later said that I acted awfully fine with not being pregnant. Later, I called and told her that I had lied to her; she was so excited. I called Jodi and Betsy to tell them. Betsy was in the truck with Jared, and I remember her screaming at the top of her lungs in excitement! It was a great sound. I was able to tell my friend, Niki, in person. It was such a special time.
All of these moments were awesome, and something I will never forget. It was such a great feeling to know that all of these people were praying for us, and I was able to tell them what God had blessed us with!